Swan Lane Colliery roof fall, 1878

On 7 March 1878 two datallers repairing a road at Swan Lane Colliery, near Wigan, were killed when the timber they had set the day before gave way and fell on them.

Date	7 March 1878
Mine	Swan Lane Colliery
Region	Greater Manchester
Type	Collapse / Roof Fall
Fatalities	2 (Joseph Molyneux (40) and Thomas Topping (45), datallers.)
Context	During active mining

Cause

Timber set the previous day in a road under repair gave way.

What happened

Swan Lane Colliery, at Hindley Green near Wigan, belonged to Edward Johnson. On 7 March 1878 two datallers, Joseph Molyneux, aged 40, and Thomas Topping, aged 45, were repairing and timbering a road. The timber they had set on the previous day gave way and fell on them, killing both.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

On 7 March 1878 two datallers, Joseph Molyneux (40) and Thomas Topping (45), were killed at Edward Johnson's Swan Lane Colliery, near Wigan. ^1,2,3
They were repairing and timbering a road when the timber they had set the day before gave way and fell on them. ^1,2,3
The colliery belonged to Edward Johnson. ^2,3

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On 7 March 1878 two datallers repairing a road at Swan Lane Colliery, near Wigan, were killed when the timber they had set the day before…”
Dataller (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On 7 March 1878 two datallers repairing a road at Swan Lane Colliery, near Wigan, were killed when…”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Swan Lane, 1878 (Durham Mining Museum) (reference)

The two datallers killed when their own timbering gave way.

View source

Sources

(primary) Colliery Disaster: Swan Lane, 7 March 1878 — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Mining victims, 1870s, M (Molyneux) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
(secondary) Mining victims, 1870s, T (Topping) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026